In order to lighten and facilitate taking in outside air into vehicle interior, vehicle roof structures such as sunroof, open roof and sliding roof are well known. Compared with the sunroof structure, the sliding roof structure, also known as canvas top structure or open roof structure, which hereinafter called sliding roof structure in this specification, allows the roof to be opened more widely, thus providing passengers enhanced sense of openness.
As shown in FIG. 19, a part of the roof 210 of a sliding roof type vehicle 200 is cut off to form an opening 211, to which a cover member 220 is attached in openable/closable state. With this type of vehicle 200, by sliding and thus folding the cover member 220 toward the rear or the front side of the vehicle, the opening 211 is formed.
A conventional sliding roof type vehicle is disclosed in JP2003-507244A (FIGS. 1 and 2)